I never thought being an uncle would be so demanding – before the baby was born that is. I’d come home from a day work and all I wanted to do was relax. However, being the only male in a household of two sisters and my mother, I maintained a large responsibility. Thus, if the pregnant sister wanted Burger King or Subway, there I was at the drive thru waiting to order a whopper or trying to remember a complex sandwich consisting of ranch sauce, no tomatoes, a little lettuce, a little mayo, lots of olives, swiss cheese…you get the point. And for some reason I never remembered to toast the sub!

Other days I’d wake up to a hostile pregnant woman in my sister ready to snap at me like a human sized lobster. Simple questions like, can you pass me the television remote or can you hurry in the bathroom became arguments. I never knew what to expect from her on any given day.

My niece was born last week; a premature baby weighing a petite 4 pounds 6 ounces. I found it really peculiar that the baby was so small given my sister ate like she can compete in of those Nathan’s hot dog eating competitions on ESPN…and win!

For the first time I understood a pregnancy and the weeks following. It is nine months of mixed emotions – hostility, love, sorrow, and the most common, hunger; which is not necessarily an emotion but should be recognized as one in this case.

These general trials and tribulations of a pregnant woman are as frequent as night and day. Both my mother and grandmother told me similar stories about their experiences.

“Twenty-seven months of pregnancy is hard to forget,” said my mother. “I would argue with your father about anything and everything all three times I was pregnant and it would only be because I was a bitter pregnant woman,” she said as laughed at the thought of it.